Machine controls

ABSTRACT

A CONTROL ASSEMBLY FOR CONTROLLING A MACHINE SUCH AS A PRINTING PRESS. THE CONTROL ASSEMBLY INCLUDES AN INPUT MEANS FOR INTRODUCING INTO THE ASSEMBLY A MOVEMENT WHOSE SPEED HAS A PREDETERMINED RELATION TO THE SPEED OF OPERATION OF THE STRUCTURE WHICH IS TO BE CONTROLLED. AN IMPULSE-TRANSMITTING MEANS NORMALLY HAS A NONTRANSMITTING POSITION BUT ALSO HAS A TRANSMITTING POSITION WHERE IT COACTS WITH THE INPUT MEANS FOR TRANSMITTING AN IMPULSE ALONG A PREDETERMINED PATH AT THE SPEED OF MOVEMENT OF THE INPUT MEANS. AN IMPULSE-DELIVERING MEANS DELIVERS AN IMPULSE TO THE IMPULSE-TRANSMITTING MEANS TO DISPLACE THE LATTER TO ITS IMPULSE-TRANSMITTING POSITION IN RESPONSE TO A SIGNAL RECEIVED BY THE IMPULSE-DELIVERING MEANS FROM THE STRUCTURE WHICH IS TO BE CONTROLLED. AN IMPULSE-RECEIVING MEANS IS SITUATED AT A PREDETERMINED LOCATION ALONG THE IMPULSE-TRANSMISSION PATH TO RECEIVE THE IMPULSE AT A GIVEN PERIOD OF TIME AFTER THE IMPULSE IS DELIVERED TO THE IMPULSE-TRANSMITTING MEANS BY THE IMPULSE-DELIVERING MEANS, SO THAT THE IMPULSE-RECEIVING MEANS CAN INTRODUCE A CONTROLLING INFLUENCE UPON THE STRUCTURE WHICH IS TO BE CONTROLLED AT A PRECISELY DETERMINED TIME AFTER THE IMPULSE WAS INITIALLY DELIVERED BY THE IMPULSE-DELIVERING MEANS TO THE IMPULSE-TRANSMITTING MEANS.

Feb. 2, 1971 I JENTZSCH 3,560,900

MACHINE CONTROLS Filed DeC. 18, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ARNDT JENTZSCH BY W/& i 7M1 ATTORNEYS MACHINE CONTROLS Filed Dec. 1 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ARNDT JENTZSCH ATTORNEYS Feb. 2, JENTZSCH v MACHINE CONTROLS Filed Dec. 18, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ARNDT JENTZSCH BY 7M5; 77w

ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oflice US. Cl. 335-122 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A control assembly for controlling a machine such as a printing press. The control assembly includes an input means for introducing into the assembly a movement whose speed has a predetermined relation to the speed of operation of the structure which is to be controlled. An impulse-transmitting means normally has a nontransmitting position but also has a transmitting position where it coacts with the input means for transmitting an impulse along a predetermined path at the speed of movement of the input means. An impulse-delivering means delivers an impulse to the impulse-transmitting means to displace the latter to its impulse-transmitting position in response to a signal received by the impulse-delivering means from the structure which is to be controlled. An

impulse-receiving means is situated at a predetermined location along the impulse-transmission path to receive the impulse at a given period of time after the impulse is delivered to the impulse-transmitting means by the impulse-delivering means, so that the impulse-receiving means can introduce a controlling influence upon the structure which is to be controlled at a precisely determined time after the impulse was initially delivered by the impulse-delivering means to the impulse-transmitting means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to control assemblies for automatically controlling the operation of machines in response to signals received from the machine or signals introduced in any way to the control assembly.

For example, the control assembly of the invention may be used to control operation of a printing press which is capable of printing sheets in succession with a plurality of different colors, the control assembly being used to control movement of individual printing mechanisms into and out of engagement with the sheets which are to be printed of different colors.

Thus, the invention relates in particular to a control which is adapted to be used for initiating and terminating the printing of different colors on a series of sheets, these colors being applied to the sheets during predetermined time intervals depending upon different paths of movement of the sheets.

With machines of this general type, there are always, during operation of the press, plurality of sheets moving between the individual printing mechanisms. It is, therefore, necessary to sequentially provide for starting and stopping of the individual printing mechanisms, so that in this way it is possible to achieve when starting the printing operations printing of the first sheet by all of the printing mechanisms, without transmitting ink directly to a printing cylinder and without fully printing the last sheet when the printing operations are terminated.

In order to fulfill these requirements, there are different structures which are known. According to one known construction, the starting and stopping of a machine, such as a printing press, is brought about by an electromechanical structure according to which control elements are situated along a predetermined path for transmitting an impulse to start and stop the printing operations in cor- 3,560,900 Patented Feb. 2, 1971 respondence with the number of sheets which are present between the successive printing mechanisms. Such a construction, however, has the disadvantage of requiring individual units to be situated between each pair of suc cessive printing mechanisms in order to be able to situate the elements of the controls at a suitable location for properly sensing and receiving the impulses. Such a construction, however, is necessarily very expensive.

With another type of known construction, the starting and stopping of the printing operations is brought about by situating between a pair of printing mechanisms a transmitting drum having a pawl and ratchet type of control in addition to those which are to be found at the printing mechanisms themselves, this latter control on the one hand having a mechanical motion transmitting assembly for actuating the first printing mechanism and on the other hand, this pawl and ratchet mechanism of the impulse-transmitting drum is also mechanically connected through such a mechanical transmission with the next following printing mechanism at the pawl and ratchet unit thereof. With a construction which is built in this way, there is, however, no possibility of a high rate of output from the machine since when the sheets follow closely one upon the other a multiplicity of such pawl and ratchet mechanisms are required, so that the reliability of the operations is necessarily reduced and, in addition, the cost is substantially increased.

A further known construction operates also with a pawl and ratchet type of mechanism. The delay which is required in correspondence with the sheets situated between a pair of successive printing mechanisms is achieved through a step-down transmission actuated by a clutch which is itself actuated between the pair of mechanisms. This construction is, however, extremely complex and is composed of a large number of individual components, so that the ease with which supervision of the operation can be achieved is undesirably influenced and a relatively large amount of faulty operations is unavoidable.

There is also a known construction where a pair of shafts can be connected to suitable clutches with control discs, these shafts being provided one for the starting and the other for the stopping of the printing operations, and the control discs rotate in a period of time required for one sheet to move through the entire machine after which the control discs return to their initial positions where they remain until the next control operation is required. These control discs coact with micro-switches which in turn bring about the starting and stopping of the printing operations. The disadvantage of this type of construction resides in the fact that there it is not possible to operate with signals which quickly follow one another since only after one sheet has moved through all of the printing mechanisms, or after a full revolution of a shaft and disc,

can a new signal be received and handled by the control structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a control assembly which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a construction which can operate reliably in such a way as to avoid improper controls for a machine such as a printing press.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide construction where the stopping and starting of the printing operations can be very reliably carried out with precise controls while, at the same time maintaining a high speed of operation of the machine so that a high output is guaranteed while still maintaining the precsie controls.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to increase the possibility of bringing about various functions of a structure which is controlled while at the same time simplifying and reducing the cost of the control assembly, so that an increase in the output is simultaneously achieved with a reduction in the materials and in the operating costs.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a control assembly which will operate very precisely at a speed corresponding to the speed of operation of the structure which is to be controlled, so that a highly reliable predetermined relationship can be maintained in a fully precise manner between the speed of operation of the control assembly and the speed of operation of the machine which is to be controlled. In this way, when the structure of the invention is used, for example, in connection with printing presses, used for printing a plurality of colors, it is possible to achieve an extremely precise starting and stopping of the various units which provide the different colors, respectively.

It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide a control assembly which, immediately after one impulse is transmitted thereby, can receive another impulse to transmit the second impulse before the transmission of the first impulse is completed.

In accordance with the invention, the control assembly includes an input means for introducing a movement the speed which has a predetermined relation with respect to the speed of operation of the structure which is to be controlled. For example, in the case of a printing press, the speed of operation of the structure which is to be controlled is a complete multiple of the speed of the movement which is introduced by the input means, so that the latter is operated from the printing press through a stepdown transmission which provides for the input means a predetermined fraction of the speed of movement of the printing press itself. An impulse-transmitting means normally has a non-transmitting position but also has an impulse-transmitting position where it coacts with the input means to be operated thereby for transmitting an impulse along a predetermined path at a speed corresponding to the speed of the movement introduced by the input means. An impulse-delivering means responds to the operation of the structure which is to be controlled and coacts with the impulse-transmitting means for delivering to the latter an impulse which displaces the impulse-transmitting means to its transmitting position to initiate the transmission of the impulse along the above path in response to the movement introduced by the input means. Situated along the latter path is an impulse-receiving means which receives the impulse transmitted by the impulsetransmitting means, this impulse-receiving means being used to control the structure in accordance with the instant when the impulse is received by the impulse-receiving means. Thus, by situating the impulse-receiving means at a predetermined location along the path of movement of the impulse, the period of time between delivery of the impulse to the impulse-transmitting means and receiving of the impulse by the impulse-receiving means can be very precisely controlled to influence the structure which is to be controlled at a precisely predetermined period of time after the initial signal is transmitted from the structure which is to be controlled to the control assembly of the invention.

In a preferred construction, the impulse-transmitting means, impulse-delivery means, and impulse-receiving means are situated on one side of the input means, while a second set of the impuse-transmitting, impulse-delivering and impulse-receiving means is situated on the other side of the input means, so that in this way controls can be derived from both sides of the single input means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary partly schematic side elevation of one possible embodiment of a control assembly accord ing to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the structure of FIG. 1 taken in a plane which is vertical and includes the central axis of the control assembly, the structure of the FIG. 1 being shown in FIG. 2 in this sectional plane of FIG. 1 as seen when looking toward the right; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary partly sectional transverse view of the structure of FIG. 1 showing details of the impulsedelivering means, while FIG. 2 shows details of the im pulse-receiving means.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, the stationary frame structure which includes, for example, the wall shown at the right of FIGS. 2 and 3, fixedly carries a stationary shaft 1 on which a pair of discs 2 and 2' are fixedly mounted. Between these discs there is a rotary gear wheel 3 which forms the input means of the control assembly and which is freely turnable on the shaft 1, so that the input means is in the form of a rotary member which has a predetermined axis of rotation coinciding with the axis of the stationary shaft 1.

The rotary member 3 is provided at its outer periphery with a ring of teeth meshing with a pinion 4, this pinion 4 having, shown in FIG. 2, to the right of its teeth which mesh with the rotary member 3 a second set of teeth adapted to coact with a sprocket chain or the like, which is not illustrated, so that, in this way, the control assembly of the invention will be driven from the structure which is to be controlled in any suitable manner. The doublepinion 4 is supported for rotary movement on a pin 5 which is also fixedly carried by the frame structure.

The input means includes not only the rotary member 3 but also a plurality of pins 6 and 6' which are uniformly distributed angularly about the axis of rotation of the input means 3 at a predetermined radial distance from this axis. Thus, one series of pins 6 project from one side of the rotary member 3 adjacent the preriphery thereof while the other series of pins 6 are respectively coaxial with the first series and project from the opposed side of the rotary member 3, all of these pins 6 and 6 being parallel to the axis of rotation of the input means. The distance between the successive pins 6 and 6' at each side of the input means corresponds to a given machine operation, so that each pin 6 and 6 will move through the angular distance provided between the successive pins during a given operation of the structure which is to be controlled. In this way, timed relationship is provided between the structure which is to be controlled and the control assembly of the invention.

This input means coacts with an impulse-transmitting means which is made up of a plurality of swing members 8 and 8' respectively supported for swinging movement on pivots in the form of pivot pins 7 and 7' fixedly carried by the discs 2 and 2', respectively. The swing members 8 and 8' are thus in the form of swingable tongues which are supported for swinging movement on the pins 7 and 7, respectively. Normally, the outer free edges of the swing members 8 and 8' which are distant from the pivots 7 and 7 are situated inwardly of the cylinder described by the pins 6 and 6', so that in this normal position the impulse-transmitting means formed by the series of swing members 8 and 8' is in a non-transmitting position. For this purpose, a plurality of springs 9 and 9' respectively coact with the swing members 8 and 8 for yieldably urg ing them into engagement with a plurality of stop members 10 and 10' carried by the discs 2 and 2' at a location where, when the swing members 8 and 8' engage the stop members, the outer free edge portions of the swing members are situated inwardly of the cylinder described by the pins 6 and 6'.

A stationary bar 11 which is fixedly carried by the frame structure serves to support a pair of electromagnets 12 and 12 which are fixed to the bar 11 and which have their armatures pivotally connected with motion-transmitting links 13 and 13', respectively, which in turn are pivotally connected with levers 14 and 14' supported for pivotal movement on a stationary pivot rod 15 fixedly carried by frame structure. Springs 16 and 16' respectively coact with levers 14 and 14' for urging them into engagement with adjustable stop assemblies, respectively, for which only the stop assemblies 17 which coacts with lever 14 is shown in FIG. 1. However, it is to be under stood that an identical stop assembly coacts with lever 14 which is indicated in FIG. 3. These levers 14 and 14' respectively carry pins 18 and 18 which, upon energizing of the electromagnets 12 and 12, are swung into engagement with the first of a series of swing members 8 and 8.

Thus, the structures 1218 and 12-18' form a pair of impulse-delivering means for delivering an impulse to the impulse-transmitting means formed by the swing members 8 and 8', and the electromagnet 12 responds in any suitable way to a signal derived from the structure which is to be controlled.

Referring to FIG. 1, it will be seen that when the first of the series of swing members is turned in a clockwise direction, as viewed in 'FIG. 1, by displacement of the lever 14 in a counter-clockwise direction, this first swing member has its outer free edge displaced radially away from the axis of the shaft 1 through the cylinder described by the pins 6 so that the next pin 6 which is directly above the first swing member 8 of the series will engage this swing member and continue the swinging movement thereof until this latter pin 6 moves beyond the first swing member. It is to be noted that the pins 6 are angularly spaced from each other by distances substantially greater than the distances between the successive swing members. In addition, the successive swing mem bers have a length sufficiently great to cause the first swing member to displace the second swing member into the path of movement of the pin 6 which engages the first swing member before this pin moves beyond the first swing member so that the spring 9 can return the first swing member into engagement with its stop pin.

In this way, the series of swing members 8 or 8' will be sequentially swung into the path of movement of a pin 6 or 6' after the impulse-delivering means has delivered the impulse to the first of the series of swing members to swing the latter into the path of movement of one of the pins 6 or 6'.

In the case where the control assembly of the invention is used for a printing press, the control structures on one side of the input means 3 can be used to determine the starting of printing operations of various printing units while the structure on the other side of the input means 3 can be used to determine stopping of the operation of these units. Thus,, when an electrical impulse is received by the electromagnet 12 or 12', the first of the series of swing members 8 or 8' is displaced to be engaged by the next pin 6 or 6' so as to start the transmission of the impulse.

This impulse will be transmitted throughout the entire series of swing members 8 or 8' until the last spring member of the series has been swung by the particular pin 6 and 6' which engaged the first member of the series. However, immediately subsequent to movement of a pin 6 or 6' beyond a swing member 8 or 8', the latter is immediately returned into engagement with its stop 10 or 10', and because the distance between the pins 6 and 6' is greater than the distance between the swing members 8 and 8', the next-following pin 6 or 6' will not actuate the swing members which thus remain at their inner nontransmitting positions. Thus, the impulse delivered upon actuation of electromagents 12 or 12 of the impulse-delivering means travels along the path determined by the movement of the pins 6 and 6' at a speed determined by the speed of the movement which is introduced by the input means 3. Situated at a predetermined location along this path are impulse-receiving means taking the form of switches 19 and 19' having switch-actuating members situated in the path of movement of the swing members so that when a swing member adjacent to a switch 19 is swung to its implse-transmitting position it will actuate the switch 19 to bring about a required controlling influence on the operation of the structure which is to be controlled.

Of course, in the case of a printing press, the plurality of impulse-receiving means 19 and 19 can be located at locations corresponding to the movement of the sheets in the printing press and in particular to the path of movement of the sheets between the different printing mechanisms, so that at a predetermined instant the drives of the printing press for starting and stopping the printing operations can be controlled.

For each printing assembly, there is a sequential pair of switches 19 and 19' preferably taking the form of micro-switches, so that one of the impulse-receiving means 19 and 19 may be used for starting a printing operation while the other is used for stopping the printing operation. Thus, the switches 19 and 19' are supported 'by levers 20 swingable upon stationary pins 21 carried by the stationary frame structure. Springs 22 and 22' respectively coact with the levers 29 and 20' for yieldably maintaining them in engagement with adjustable stops screws 23 and 23' carried by a stationary bar 24 mounted on the frame of the machine. By adjusting the stop screws 23 and 23, the instant of actuation of an impulse-receiving means 19 and 19 is adjusted.

Beside controls for the starting and stopping of the individual printing mechanisms, where the control assembly is used with a printing press, in correspondence with the different paths of movements of the sheets, it is also possible for the control assembly to be used for automatically terminating the operation of the machine or for controlling the machine to provide a different operating speed after the last sheet which has been printed has been deposited upon a stack of printed sheets.

In order to fulfill this last function an impulse-receiving means 25 in the form of a microswitch is situated at a suitable location along the path of movement of the transmitted impulse behind or subsequent to the location of the plurality of impulse-receiving means 19 and 19' used to terminate the operation of the individual printing mechanisms, so that the travelling impulse will only reach the impulse-receiving means 25 when the last sheet has been deposited upon the stack of printed sheets.

This control assembly of the invention can be used Without any changes for any desired number of printing mechanisms or to control other types of structures. Preferably, the structure of the invention is initially designed for the largest number of printing mechanisms which will be encountered. If the particular machine to which the control assembly of the invention is connected happens to have less than this maximum number of printing mechanisms, the very same control assembly can be used simply with the omission of the excess components.

The arrangements of the swing members 8 must be such, at each side of the input means 3, that between the first of the series of swing members and the last of the series of swing members there is a sufiiciently large space to guarantee that one impulse will travel only once through the series of swing members. In the case of a printing press, the input means 3 rotates not quite through a full revolution in the time required for a sheet to pass through the entire printing press, which is to say to move from the starting mark where the sheet is initially placed on the feed table of the machine until the sheet reaches the stack where the finally printed sheets are collected. The relationship between the speeds of rotation of the machine and the input means 3, or in other words, the speed of an operating cycle of the machine which is to be controlled with respect to the rotary speed of the input means 3 must be a whole number.

The control assembly of the invention can transmit the control impulses in correspondence with the operating cycles of the machine which is to be controlled irrespective of the intervals between the successive impulses delivered from the machine to the impulse-delivering means 12-18 and 12-18'. In other words, when setting the machine up, or if a signal is given by an improperly printed sheet, it is not necessary to wait until a particular impulse has travelled through the entire control assembly, so that where a signal of faulty printing of a sheet is received it is not necessary for this faulty sheet to travel through the entire machine before suitable controls are provided in response to the signal. Thus, there is a saving of time since as soon as one pin 6 or 6 moves beyond the first of the series of swing members 8, this first swing member 8 is immediately returned to its starting position to receive and start the transmission of a second impulse while the first impulse is still being transmitted. Not only is there a saving of time, but, in addition, there is a reduction in the amount of waste paper which accumulates.

In the event that the control assembly of the invention is to be used with a printing press having a large number of printing mechanisms, it may be desirable in order to avoid excessively large dimensions for the control assembly, to provide a pair of the control assemblies of the invention so as to use under these conditions two smaller control assemblies which coact directly with each other.

What is claimed is:

1. In a control assembly, input means mounted for rotation about an axis and including a plurality of angularly spaced abutment means each at Substantially the same distance from said axis, means for rotationally driving said input means about said axis, a plurality of impulse transmitting means angularly spaced each at substantially the same distance from said axis and each having a first position outside the path of said abutment means and a second position intersecting the path of said abutment means, actuation means for moving said transmitting means from said first position to said second position, and an impulse receiving means angularly spaced from the actuation means and positioned to receive an impulse from any respective one of said impulse transmitting means by contact therewith only when said respective transmitting means is in said second position, a plurality of consecutive ones of said transmitting means being so spaced relative to each other that each upon movement from the first position to the second position contacts and moves the next from the first position to the second position and a series of such spaced transmitting means spanning the angular distance between the actuation means and the receiving means so that the transmitting means transmit an impulse from the actuation means to the receiving means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,805,745 9/1957 Patzer 192-138 2,863,960 12/1958 Martin 335l FOREIGN PATENTS 296,300 6/1915 Germany 335122 HAROLD BrROOME, Primary "Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 33572 

